PE firm Lighthouse bets on laminated sheets maker

Indian mid-market private equity (PE) firm Lighthouse Advisors India Pvt. Ltd, which is
currently investing out of its second fund, is making its first bet this year in a laminated
sheets manufacturer.

The fund is set pick a 10.4% stake for Rs 51.08 crore (around $8 million) in public-listed
Stylam Industries Ltd, VCCircle has learnt. The deal values the company at around Rs 491
crore (around $76 million).

An email query sent to Lighthouse did not elicit a response.

Lighthouse, which had raised $138 million (around Rs 900 crore) for its India 2020 Fund II
in 2015, has a string of PIPE (private investment in public equity) deals to its credit.
The fund has made five PIPE deals across its two funds since 2007, according to VCCEdge,
the data and research platform of News Corp VCCircle.

In 2016, it made a PIPE investment in Delhi-based non-banking finance company (NBFC)
Capital Trust Ltd. This was also the company’s first deal in the financial services sector.
Its other PIPE investments are Cera Sanitaryware Ltd, Dhanuka Agritech Ltd and Shaily
Engineering Plastics Ltd.

Lighthouse had raised its maiden fund ‘India 2020 Limited’ in 2008 with a corpus of $100
million.

Stylam Industries

The company, which was founded in 1991, provides laminated sheets for homes and offices.
It offers high-pressure laminates, door skin, adhesives, exterior cladding and exterior floor
boards.

It has a plant at Panchkula in Haryana. The company also has offices in the UK, Australia,
Spain and Portugal, Thailand and The Netherlands.

In FY2015-16, its revenues grew by 16.82% to Rs 250.05 crore compared with the previous
financial year, according to its latest annual report. Its profit rose to Rs 12.15 crore in
FY2015-16 from Rs 9.39 crore.

The company’s consolidated in domestic market grew by more than 47.2% during the
financial year.

The firm has a presence in more than 60 countries. Its exports grew around 8.10% in value
compared with the previous year, primarily through consolidation in the existing market, it
said.